Director, Community Health

Position Overview

Primary Function: The Director of Community and Public Health is responsible for the establishment of an integrative and comprehensive approach to community health and well-being by providing institutional leadership to advance strategic initiatives on health and wellness through programmatic and content development, collaborative institutional partnerships, and effective communication strategies. Reporting to the Associate Dean for Flourishing and Wellness, the Director of Community Health is responsible for providing direct oversight of Wellness Center activities related to public health preparedness, contact tracing, health equity, case management, strategic community health partnerships, and public health programming and communication. In partnership with the Associate Dean of Flourishing and Wellness, the Director of Community Health will lead all outreach efforts that support creating a healthy campus community.

This position will be responsible for supervising case managers & contact tracers/communications specialists.

Career Band: 2E

Position Description

Typical Duties & Responsibilities: 

• Develop and lead a community health program that supports the mitigation of chronic and infectious diseases among the student population. Provide supervision to 3 direct reports with a focus on contact tracing, case management, health equity initiatives, infectious disease mitigation, and public health communication.
• Collaborate with internal and external stakeholders to manage public health preparedness and support ongoing efforts to mitigate chronic and infectious diseases on campus. This involves supporting University Health Service efforts and sustains a University wide community health framework using RedCap and Point and Click to manage disease outbreaks, vaccination programs, and supporting social determinants of health.
• Advises senior leadership on matters related to disease outbreaks and creates proactive measures to quickly identify threats to student health and well-being through reporting systems, marketing and strategic communications, public health policy development and student health advocacy.
• Serve as subject matter expert on community and public health committees and maintain strong working relationships with relevant campus partners.
• Provide leadership and functional responsibility for the strategic planning, development, implementation, and evaluation of a multifaceted campus-wide wellness education program and evaluate key performance measures for students’ physical, emotional, psychological, and overall well-being.
• Utilizing knowledge derived from expertise, training, and the empirical literature rooted in the disciplines of psychology, medicine, and public health, guide and oversee campus-wide harm reduction and wellness programming designed to enhance student success. Such programming may include existing and effective models, but it would be expected that the Executive Director would create new and innovative curricula that enhances not just the well being of Sewanee students, but serves as a model for other Institutions.

Machines & Equipment Used: Typical office equipment.

Budgetary Responsibility: Analyzes budgetary data and develops budget proposals.

Personal Interaction/Communication:

• Student Contact: Frequent/daily
• Internal: Frequent/daily
• External: Occasionally

Attributes of a Successful Candidate

Education: Masters of Public Health (MPH), Masters of Health Administration (MHA), or Masters of Public Administration (MPA)

Experience: 3-5 years of experience in a higher education, public, or community health setting building strategic partnerships to advance positive health outcomes and public health. Prior experience in college health and working with young adults is preferred.

Job Related Skills: 

• The successful candidate should possess outstanding communication skills, the ability to build cross-disciplinary alliances, work effectively with community partners, have significant experience developing, implementing, and evaluating community-based health promotion and disease prevention programming.
• Strong organizational skills and the ability to build consensus on issues, policies, and processes are essential skills required of the individual chosen for this leadership position.
• Excellent leadership, diplomacy, and team management skills with the ability to engage others through a participative process, while serving as a key decision maker.
• Demonstrated commitment to working with a diverse and inclusive student body, faculty, staff, and other constituents.
• Strong project and program management and evaluation skills.
• Knowledge of student development theory, program development, management and leadership education, learning outcomes assessment, staff training/development, and student advisement.

Licenses & Certifications: None required

Supplemental Information

Confidential Information: Works with HIPAA compliant information and private health information

Working Environment: Typical office environment

Physical Requirements: Must be able to stand for extended periods of time, Must be able to push and/or pull objects, Must be able to use hands for repetitive tasks, Must be able to lift up to 10 pounds (Sedentary work)